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1st
year Sports and Exercise Sciences Diploma student, Sim Kai Xuan Rena,
captained the National Women’s Youth Volleyball Team in the recent 13th Asian
Junior Volleyball Championship held in Nakhonratchasima, Thailand from 29
September 2006 – 10 October 2006.
The
13th Asian Women’s Junior Under-19 Volleyball Championship, which also serves as
the qualification tournament for the World Championship, drew a total of 12
teams. Singapore was drawn into the same group as Japan and Australia.
The
team played against Japan and Australia on 2 Oct and 3 Oct respectively. The
Singapore team put in our best efforts against our more experienced opponents,
however, we lost both matches with a 0:3 score line. Our losses placed us in
the loser pool and we had to compete against Sri Lanka the following day.
Despite being of comparable standards, we conceded the
match to them due to our lackluster performance. We lost in straight sets – 22:25, 20:25 and 18:25.
During our
next game was against India on 6 October, we tried our best to make a game of it
despite our opponent’s superior physical attributes and conditioning. We were
unable to match their physical prowess and eventually lost in 3 highly
competitive sets.
With pride to play for in our 11/12th position match against Sri Lanka, our
girls put in a tremendous showing and played their hearts out. Despite losing
the first time both teams bet, we were determined to make amends. We managed to hold our
nerves and close the match out in 5 exciting sets, winning 15:10 in the deciding
rubber. Final Score, Singapore 3: Sri Lanka 2 (26:24, 22:25, 16:25, 25:21 and
15:10).
From the 12 teams fielded in this competition, China, Japan, South Korea and
Taipei boasted teams with not only favourable physical attributes but these
countries also had a
protracted national programme which honed their players’ skills. These teams
were clearly ahead of the rest of the field. I also noted that teams such as
Australia, New Zealand and India may have players with the height and athletism
but lost out as their countries did not have an integrated training programme.
On the other hand, teams such as Thailand, Sri Lanka and Vietnam had
comprehensive national programmes but the players lacked the natural physical
attributes (e.g height) as compared to the other teams.
For Singapore, it was unfortunate that the
competition was held so close to the national examinations (O and A Level) and
some of the tallest and most experienced players in the training squad could not
participate in the competition. I believe that we would have placed better if
our full squad was fielded. However, I am still very satisfied with the
team's performance and will cherish the memories and experience I have gained
from captaining the team and participating in this competition.
Final
ranking:
1. China;
2. Japan; 3. Chinese Taipei; 4. Thailand; 5. South Korea; 6. Vietnam;
7. Australia; 8. New Zealand; 9. Indonesia; 10. India; 11. Singapore; 12. Sri
Lanka
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